Peters



@uitrit tats etnt @fitta IMPROVEMENT IN CLOTH-FOLDING MACHINE.

t'tlge .,tlgehnltrrfitut tu in tlgise trttrts 'utent zum making putt nt ilge sainte.

TO ALL WHOM .IT-'MAY CONOERN:

Be it known that I, J. D.. ELLIOT, of Grafton, in the county of iiorcester, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new Improvement in Cloth-Folder; and I do hereby declare the following, when'taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, aud represent, in

Figure 1, a top View; and in Figure 2, a longitudinal section on line :c z.

This invention relates to an improvement in the machine for folding cloth for which Letters :Ea-tent were issued to me bearing date the 9th day of luly, 1861,"and consists in dividing the table upon which thc cloth is laid and hingng the parts so that they may be alternately depressed to receive and secure the folds as fast as laid; In my machine patented in 1861 the table is whole, und arranged so as to be depressed alternatelyr at each end, the opposite jaw being the centre upon which either end is depressed. In thus depressingthe whole table'the cloth is unavoid- Yably and 4to a greater or less extent drawn from the opposite jaw, a source of great practical difficulty in this machine. By my present improvement thisdiiculty is entirely overcome, one end or portieri ofthe table being vpositively fixed while the other is being depressed. I l

Y To enable others to construct and use my improvement, l will proceed to describe the-same as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. i

A is the frame of the machine supported on legs, B, or otherwise, and to which, in the manner described in my patent before referred to, the folding mechanism may be attached. C and D are the two parts of the table, divided at or near the centre, and hinged at that point in any convenient or known manner. E F are the two jaws under which the extreme end of each part of the table rests, as seen in iig. 2, and are supported in that position by a spring or otherwise at d, as denoted in tig. 1.

'.lhe operation of the table thus constructed is as follows: Suppose the nrst end of the cloth to be folded is placed under the jaw E and there held by the upward pressure of the part C of the table. The cloth is then taken by the folding device, carried over the table to the jaw F. At the same time the part D of the table is depressed, as denoted in red,- ig. 2, sodas .to permit the folding device to carry the first fold beneath the jaw E, and when so carried beneath the jaw the part D of the table is returned, grasping and holdingA the first fold while the folding device carries the cloth back over the table laying-the second'fold beneath thejaw E, the part C of the table being depressed for this purpose, as denoted in blue, and returned so as to grasp a'nd hold the said second fold while the folding device returns to the jaw F with the third fold, and so on until the piece is folded. The spring which supports the two parte of the table C D is all that is required to return the end of the table to grasp and hold the folds as described, and the folding device may be employed to depress the table, yet IpreferLand in practice employ, a device similar to that shown in my'patent before referred to for operating the table. It is better that the table be divided in the manner have described, yct the centre may be stationary; that is to say, aport-ion of the table in the `centre stationary and the two'ends hinged to the saidl stationary part, and made tooperate as described for the two parts C D, that is, divided in three parts.

It will be observed that by this improvement one-half the table at least remains stationary while the other portion. is -bcing depressed to permit the insertion of the fold under thejaw at the depressed end, therefore the depression of one end can in nowise alfect the folds held at theother.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is l

Dividing the table and hinging the parts at or near the centre, so as to operate substantially as and for the purpose specified.

J. D. ELLIOT.

Witnesses: V

JOHN'4 E. EARLE, A. J. TIBBrrs. 

